Last First Date
by ScorplinginTraining
Summary: One step forward. Twenty steps back. When will this dance ever end? And what will it look like when it finally does?


**LAST FIRST DATE**

 **AN: I've had this story in my head for a few days. It got a little long to call it a drabble to be included in with my 'All The Waige' one shots. So I decided to publish it as a stand alone one shot this time. I hope you like it! If you do, please review. See? I even included a little poetry there! ;-D**

It wasn't precisely a standing-room-only crowd. And the applause wasn't exactly thunderous. But Paige was bursting with pride none the less as Ralph concluded his presentation before the audience of family, faculty, staff and a few fellow tech-obsessed students at MIT.

When all the demonstrations were done, her son would be presented with an award and along with the accolades, he would also rack up several offers of sponsorships and scholarship money. That part left Paige with decidedly mixed feelings. And she hated that selfish facet of herself and refused to let it ruin one iota of Ralph's triumph by outwardly showing anything but joy in his accomplishments. She would not allow her threatening dark clouds to rain on his parade.

Glancing to her left, she eyed the beaming man beside her. Walter was nearly on the edge of his seat hanging on every one of her son's words, sometimes reciting them simultaneously with his young protégé. The two of them had painstakingly worked on the details of Ralph's exhibition for days.

In stark contrast, Ralph's father sat on her right side. Paige supposed he was attempting to be involved just by being there, but Drew kept suppressing yawns while the new woman on his other side constantly sighed and looked at her watch. Her two children squirmed and whined and poked at each other asking every five minutes how much longer the program would last.

Paige was trying not to be impatient with Drew's new family. The presentations by the outstanding science students weren't exactly riveting for her either, but at least she was trying to have respect for them and their families. It was such an honor for Ralph to be included in their number.

It helped that Walter had been occasionally hissing explanations to her about the functionality of the inventions keeping it in laymen's terms as best as he was able. She was so unbelievably grateful to have him there. Not because of his simplification of the uses of the new tech, but mainly because of his sincere interest in her child. He was impossibly more proud of Ralph than she was. And that meant the absolute world to her.

Especially considering all the circumstances.

After Ralph's part was over and he'd packed away his materials, he returned to his seat on the stage with the other award winners. As the next student approached the podium, Paige's mind began to wander back over the past few months and her strangely amorphous relationship with Walter. From the outset it seemed to meander all over the map, never settling into any defined territory. Nothing about them had ever been regular. Obviously normal was something a person could never expect when involved with a genius. But she'd had normal. Twice. She knew without a doubt, normal wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

She and Walter made great strides in repairing their relationship after the buoy incident. And Ralph was in heaven due to the increased amount of time the three of them were spending together.

Then came her inevitable break up with Tim. While she struggled to come to terms with the demise of yet another relationship that seemed perfect on the surface, Walter had been so sweet, so caring. In the absence of the obstruction of a boyfriend, her attraction to her boss and friend returned with an unholy vengeance. And they began to make a few cautious inroads into hinting at the possibility of couplehood.

Until his memories from space chose to resurface causing the two of them to take several enormous leaps backwards. Again.

Since then, she and Walter slowly, tentatively addressed certain elements of the gargantuan elephant in the room. At first all their progress was for Ralph's benefit. He was upset and confused by Walter's sudden absence from his life, so they worked on things until they started to improve.

Then they began to rebuild their friendship again. Brick by meticulous brick. With honesty and openness as the mortar this time. Until about two weeks ago in the middle of a particularly treacherous case, both had _finally_ admitted they loved each other. There was no choir of angels, but her heart sang for days afterward and her feet never touched the ground as if she was the one stuck in space and floating in zero gravity this time.

Then… nothing.

They were still trapped in this same holding pattern, circling and circling and circling each other, the circles getting smaller at times, but never quite meeting.

Providence intervened. Happy and Toby's honeymoon was already going to reduce the manpower at Scorpion by nearly a third. Then Ralph won Outstanding Science Student of the Year at Cal Tech and was asked to present his robotics project and accept his award at MIT along with other winners from technical schools all over the country. It just so happened the two events coincided. When Paige garnered the courage to ask, Walter readily agreed to close the office for a few days so he could accompany Ralph and her to the event.

The smattering of applause signaling the end of the other student's demonstration pulled Paige from her reverie. The president of MIT approached the lectern and gave out the awards. Within fifteen minutes, the ceremony was over.

Drew's girlfriend took her young children to the restroom and Paige used the opportunity to have a conversation with Ralph's father about rules and her son's date of return. Because MIT was on the East Coast, she'd felt obligated to ask Drew to come. He was less enthusiastic than Walter had been, but he used the invitation as an opening to ask her if Ralph could stay with him for a few weeks so the boy could get acquainted with his father's new fiancée and her kids. Paige agreed to let him stay for one week only, and had to promise Ralph a summer roadtrip to get past his reluctance to stay even that long.

As she spoke to Drew, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ralph wend his way through the clumps of people to Walter. The two of them exchanged an ebullient double high five and the older genius ruffled the boy's hair, matching grins on their faces. When her son's eyes met hers a moment later, he sobered and spoke softly to Walter for another few seconds before wandering over in her direction smoothing his newly styled hair back in place.

She felt a sharp pang at that little show of vanity, but she opened her arms and enveloped her extraordinary son in her embrace, whispering, "I'm so very proud of you," in his ear. Ralph returned her hug for a moment then turned to his dad.

The two didn't touch, but Drew smiled and said, "Hey, Ralph! Great to see you. Incredible job you did up there."

Paige had to bite the inside of her cheek so she wouldn't point out that he'd slept through most of Ralph's presentation and probably had no clue what it was about.

"Hey, Dad," he returned, "Thanks for coming." They shook hands like business associates and it struck her again that her little man was growing up. Sorrow came in a sudden wave and threatened to engulf her, so she turned away and her eyes found Walter's.

His eyes widened slightly and he started toward her. When he reached her side, he placed a hand on the small of her back and greeted Drew civilly. Just that little bit of contact steadied her and she suggested, "You guys have a long drive, why don't we go to the car and get Ralph's bag so you can be on your way?"

Later after they'd said their goodbyes to her son, she and Walter got into the rental car to head to their hotel. Their flight back to LA didn't leave until morning, so they had the rest of the afternoon and evening to kill. Walter had never been to Boston, so he suggested seeing some of the historical sites because he knew she loved history and he could tell she was upset about something. She knew he was trying to be considerate, but she wasn't in the mood to sightsee or elaborate. Knowing how wrong it was, she couldn't deny part of her just wanted to curl up somewhere quiet and sulk. She couldn't bring herself to fake an interest in anything.

They reached their destination pretty quickly and went to their respective rooms. Paige took a few minutes to kick off her heels, change into sweats and throw her hair into a messy ponytail. She felt the need to be slouchy and comfortable. She switched on the TV for some background noise and crawled to the middle of one of the double beds.

It wasn't long before a knock sounded on the connecting door. Sighing, Paige got up from her perch and padded on bare feet to open up her side. She peeked around the edge and leaned a cheek on her hand on the door looking inquiringly at the man on the other side.

"Um, did you want to go get some dinner?" Walter asked, offering her a hesitant smile and scratching at the side of his face nervously.

"Not right now," Paige answered glumly, then added, "You can go ahead if you're hungry."

They stood staring at one another awkwardly for a few seconds then he said, "Did I do something wrong?"

Suddenly feeling contrite, she replied, "No, Walter, it's not you at all. It's... stupid."

His features relaxed briefly, but then concern darkened them again. "Do you need your space? Or can I come in?"

It was such a Walter thing to ask, she couldn't help but smile a little as she stepped aside and gestured for him to enter.

There was only one uncomfortable looking chair in the room and it had her dress that she'd worn to Ralph's presentation draped across it, so he kicked off his shoes and they both slid onto her bed and sat side by side with their backs pressed to the headboard. It felt like a new chapter in their weird little saga.

Not looking at her, he asked, "Can you tell me what's bothering you? Because I know something is. And that bothers me."

Smiling at the memory of similar words in a cave full of bats, she answered, "You'll think I'm being selfish. Because I know I am, but I can't seem to stop."

Frowning in obvious displeasure at her assessment of herself, he said, "You are one of the least selfish people I know. And if you are doing something for yourself, it's probably long over due or justified."

If he put her on a higher pedestal her nose would bleed from the altitude. It made her feel worse about her thoughts at the exact same time she fell just a little bit more in love with him. She leaned her head against his shoulder and at the risk of making him think less of her, she confessed, "I've been fighting grief over Ralph growing up all day. I'm so proud of who he is and who he is turning out to be, but it just hit me really hard today that he's going to leave me. Much sooner than I want him to. He already needs me less and less all the time. And it's not that I don't want him to grow up and achieve great things. My job as a mom is to work myself out of a job. But it's always been Ralph and me against the world. It just occurred to me that he will be the next in a long line of people that have… left me." The tears started dribbling down her face as she continued, "First, my mom left me to follow whatever grifter scheme she was pulling off at the time or let's not forget her stints in the slammer. Drew dumped me for baseball and Tim ditched me for a better job in the Middle East. Even my father left me in a way. After he and my mom split, he stopped taking care of himself. His health declined and, well… Eventually he left too." Paige swallowed around the massive lump in her throat. "My-my little boy isn't a little boy any more. And he's going to-to… and I want him to. I really do. It's just… "

Walter sat quietly beside her, letting her spew out her dark feelings. After a while, he tilted his head to the side so his cheek was resting on her hair. She couldn't see the look on his face, so she was glad when he began to speak softly. "I don't think it's unusual for a mother to feel the way you do. And you probably have more reason to than most." She nodded against his shoulder, glad he wasn't finding fault. But because he was Walter, and he felt the need to solve every problem he encountered, he took a deep breath and presented her with this solution, "What-what if, uh, someone who loves you was willing to commit to stay with you permanently? No-no matter what. Up to and including legally." She gasped a little in shock, her heart pounding in her chest, as he kept talking, "And-and maybe consider giving you another genius or-or normal child to nurture and love one day. Maybe this someone wouldn't be easy and has a lot of improvements to make, but he wouldn't ever leave you if he could help it. He would do anything in his power to stay with you. Always. Would… uh, that make things more bearable?"

Paige half expected the man to say he was joking when she asked, "Walter, do you mean… Are you asking me to marry you?"

He stiffened for a split second before murmuring, "Yes. If-if you want. If it would help you feel more secure. And… if you would promise not to leave me either."

The tears filling her eyes weren't from grief this time, but from pure, unadulterated love. She found she couldn't answer for a full minute because she was so touched by his words and the beautiful pictures they painted inside her mind.

A little taken aback and a lot stirred, she said with an uncertain quaver in her voice, "Shouldn't we go on a first date first?"

"We can, but I don't care if we don't. We've never done anything in the conventional way, have we?"

Paige turned herself so she could look at him. And when she finally saw his face and the potent mix of adoration and uncertainty in his eyes, she couldn't hold off another minute. Her lips were on his before he could draw another breath. They kissed as if their lives depended on it with fierce and wild and reckless abandon.

When clothes began to come undone and hands started to roam, she panted, "How do you feel about sex on the first date?"

It was a moment before he could wrest his mouth away from her long enough to reply, chest heaving, puffing the words out against her neck, "As long as it's you and it's my last first date, I'm unquestionably in favor."


End file.
